September 26, 2013

Canada’s energy debate: Looking beyond labels

We live in a world where everything tends to be classified, labeled or catalogued.

Photo credit: iStockphoto

Scientists have named every known fungus, insect, mammal and plant on Earth – and are still finding new ones. Marketers segment customers into manageable groups to better understand their wants, needs and preferences. And employers classify staff by education, experience and performance to determine how much to pay them.

While classification has served us well in many pursuits, it can be detrimental in others, such as in Canada’s wild and wooly energy debate, for example.

Labeling people, perspectives

The current energy conversation is a complex one and thus ripe for classification, as participants and observers alike grapple to make sense of it all. Classification in itself isn’t the problem, but rather the emotional stereotypical and often colorful labels people use to bolster their supporters and discredit and delegitimize their opponents.

Just about all players in the energy debate have been guilty at some point of hanging labels. Some environmentalists habitually call anyone who questions the economics or policy decisions of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 'climate deniers'. Some politicians dub environmental groups who are against energy infrastructure projects 'radicals', as if opposition to proposed facilities is one step towards complete anarchy.

Even some media pundits and their followers are inclined to brand any organization critical of oil sands development as 'anti oil sands'.

Counterproductive, antagonistic

Hanging labels is counterproductive. It antagonizes and over-simplifies. Hanging labels is symptomatic of a mindset which fails to listen to other people’s arguments and does not give due weight to all the evidence, including the possibility that one’s initial judgments about others might be wrong.

As Suncor’s CEO Steve Williams noted in the 2013 Report on Sustainability, Canada’s energy conversation is a critical one which requires meaningful engagement and collaboration. Simplistic labels which divide rather than unite only distract us from getting to solutions.

Echoing this sentiment is Tides Canada, a long-standing critic of oil sands development, which launched its 'Strange Bedfellows' campaign to remind us that “Canada works better when Canada works together.”

Labeling can be useful in a complex world, but not when it’s applied to manipulate our perceptions of people and their perspectives.

Besides, most people labels are woefully inaccurate anyway because we all have a lot more in common than we might think.

As the different stereotypes in classic 1985 movie The Breakfast Club found out after spending an afternoon in detention together … “each one of us is a brain … and an athlete … and a basket case … a princess … and a criminal.” And we all have something to contribute when it comes to a discussion or solving a common problem.

The Walrus Talks Energy

Tune in to the OSQAR blog on Tuesday, October 1 at 4 p.m. MT/ 6 p.m. ET to watch our online broadcast of The Walrus Talks Energy speaker series.

Oil Sands Question and Response (OSQAR) is a blog created by Suncor Energy to support constructive dialogue about the oil sands. In our weekly posts, we talk about the energy industry, environmental impact, tailings management and reclamation, water management and the social and economic implications of oil sands development.

Our oil sands operations are near Fort McMurray, Alberta, where we recover bitumen from oil sands through mining and in situ operations. The bitumen from both operations is then upgraded to refinery-ready feedstock and diesel fuel. More about the where and the what of the oil sands can be found on our oil sands resource page.